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Labour policy chief admits ‘my ideas won’t win votes’

Jon Cruddas: "I don’t want the party to think"David Bebber for The Times

Jon Cruddas, the head of Labour’s policy review, has made the unusual admission that the party would become unelectable if they put his own personal ideas in the manifesto.

Mr Cruddas is strongly linked with the Left of the party and has close ties to the union movemement. He replaced Liam Byrne, the former McKinsey consultant, to oversee Labour’s policy review earlier this year.

Mr Cruddas is known for his unusual and innovative ideas on subjects such as nationalism, and believes in the need for a referendum on Britain’s relationship with Europe, which Mr Miliband is unlikely to offer.

He told the Labour List website: “Let’s be pretty blunt about this. I come to this job – a generous invite from our leader to participate in…